Social Media Marketing Mishaps and Brilliance

Social Media is great for a lot of things. Besides the plethora of selfies, online game requests, location updates, and cat memes that bombard our newsfeeds, Social Media does have its uses for companies particularly when looking to communicate and interact with their customer base. Like the selfie, with its varying degrees of aesthetic success, companies that are utilizing Social Media to develop these relationships are successful to various degrees from mishaps to instances of utter brilliance.

Mishaps!

Often mind boggling, these mishaps are the result of simply not paying attention; either the brand is not paying close enough attention to their efforts or not paying attention to the dialog surrounding particular events.

Crate and Barrel Pie Mix Up

Crate and Barrel, purveyors of kitchen goods, made this obvious mistake. They probably intended to either post a photo of an apple pie or they wanted to write a post about a pecan pie. Regardless, it’s a major error, which was quickly pickup, commented on, and shared around quickly.

Epicurious Tweets During the Boston Marathon Bombing

Cooking site Epicurious, known for its database of recipes, recommends a series of breakfast foods, including whole-grain cranberry scones, during the Boston Marathon Bombing Tragedy. Though probably with the best of intentions, their response to the tragedy crosses the line of inappropriate after 25 characters.

Brilliance!

When done right, internet and social media efforts not only clearly represents a brand, but also gains traction with news outlets and bloggers who are will to spend time on posts exclaiming their brilliance...ahem. Anyways, these examples below intelligently integrate the immediacy of social media while demonstrating the importance of providing entertaining content.

Oreo Super Bowl 2013 Blackout Tweet

What is brilliant about this tweet is its timing. Obviously not planned, (How could you plan for a blackout during the Super Bowl?) Oreo grasped a hold of a captive audience and the online twitter discussion during the Super Bowl. With 15,000 retweets – it may have been the most important tweet during the whole game.

Tesco Mobile Discussion Involving Yorkshire Tea, Jaffa Cakes, and Cadbury

You can read the complete dialog HERE, and I would, since it will be the best thing you will read all day. The back and forth between the user and Tesco, a British grocery store, is classic - but when they include and get Yorkshire Tea, Jaffa Cakes, and Cadbury involved it becomes EPIC. The conversation demonstrates what is possible when a brand utilizes social media and actively interacts with consumers and other brands. It’s utopian and a tad too perfect, but skillfully sets the bar high for marketers, social media managers, and companies.

The best uses of social media marketing requires constant attention to details, being mindful to current events, a bit of wit, and little luck.